A couple of days ago, a friend and I did something I had wanted to do for years.
Take the commuter ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco. It’s a scenic 45 minute ride across the bay and under the San Rafael bridge to the ferry terminal at San Francisco’s Embarcadero.
Taking the ferry was also a practical matter, since parking is, if not at Manhattan-level expenses, pretty bad.
The last time I took my car there – 15 years ago – for an extended period was when my nephew, visiting from Minnesota, wanted to see Alcatraz.
Parking at a lot along Fisherman’s wharf was at the time $50 for about 4 hours.
But I will say that the NPS really set up the Alcatraz tours right – I had been there once before, with a guided tour. But this time you got a headphone and walked around at your own pace – hearing from former inmates and guards at various stops telling you what it was like.
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